Cat

I am VERY annoyed when people stop by Cass and Kathleen's place to harangue Cass about how he could hurt Frankie. The smugness of Dean, who, for all his talk about Frankie, barely ever actually spends time with her and instead "helps" her by paying Kathleen's wages and berating Cass at random moments, is especially grating. The show has no one to argue Kathleen's point of view while Frankie gets to have Ryan there to hold her hand as she moans about how she wants to sell her house and isn't she sad.

Frankie as a character is just not growing on me. And I still can't buy Cass with her. Sorry, fans of quirk. With Kathleen leaving, it has kind of added a cloud of boringness to the show

I am in November 91's episodes... I dread the day they pull these.

Jake/Paulina.

Jensen Buchanan's Vicky is starting to annoy me. Like she's pre-channeling Laura Wright's version of Carly Corinthos.

I *love* Olivia Matthews and hope she hooks up with her physiotherapist.

Well. I am contnually impressed by Emmerdale's production values, which puts its rivals Corrie and EE in the shade. Nevermind the US soaps, which look piss-poor next to this.

Aaron and Jackson fighting. Jackson driving off in his car.

Aaron standing there, his eyes glistening with tears. I have such a talent crush on this actor. He is the best cryer I have ever seen.

Aaron calls Jackson on his cell. Jackson, driving, can see his cell ringing on the passenger seat. He lets it ring for a while before finally giving in and reaching for it -- only it slips out of his grasp and falls on the floor.

Jackson searches around for it WHILE driving and suddenly swerves to avoid hitting something in the road. His car smashes through fences and shrubbery to turn over and over. The shot switches from the view in the car to Aaron, listening from far away to the crash and realizing with horror what has happened.

Closeup on the wrecked car. Jackson tries weakly to extricate himself from the wreakage. Then the camera pulls back to reveal a flashing red light... Jackson's car is smack in the middle of a railway crossing, and the red light signals that a train is approaching.

Aaron begins to run down the road. Jackson doesn't even realize he is in imminent danger until he hears the roar of the train right behind him and then it is too late.

OMG. OMG! So much efficient, effective filming here. The shots inside the car, the use of silence and then noise (the crash, the sound of the train appearing from nowhere), The direction was superb. Whatever one may think about Emmerdale right now, about this character, you have to admit that the technical know-how is impressive. More than that, these Big Events are never soulless behomeths. Emmerdale always manages to hook something emotional behind the Big Event. Here it was Aaron's unwitting part behind Jackson's accident. It is also the fact that in the UK, deaths on the railway line somehow hang in the public consciousness. What an awful way to go. And Jackson WILL die, right? Nobody could conceiveably survive that double car crash!

Just had to sing my praises. Miller never fails to deliver, but I was way impressed here by the whole episode.

I guess, but that didn't make me miss her any less. She was a needed presence and, even if she was only back for a short time, she left a huge void in the canvas that was never filled.

Cat, I just finished re-watching the "meeting" episode & it was pure awesomeness! Loved every minute of it, much as I did the first time I saw it. The only weak point for me is Judi Evans' Paulina vs Jensen Buchanan's Marley- I didn't mind Buchanan's Marley but all I can do is imagine how much better those scenes would have been with Timmins & Heche, especially since Timmins would have probably actually looked sexy in the outfit. It reminds me of the eps where the recasting took place- in the first ep, you had Cali Timmings looking slinky & sexy in that orange dress. The next day, Judi Evans was wearing the same dress and the sex appeal was all gone. Not just because of the way she looked, but the way she carried herself & "wore" that dress.

The Swajeski era was a golden period & was very, very underrated at the time. I wish she received a Best Writing Emmy for it because she deserved it- she got 1 or 2 nominations, but never the win (it's a double-edged sword because I believe SB was the soap that beat them out).

Now Cat, I take it you haven't gotten to the episode yet where they go through with this & half the town, including Felicia & Donna I believe, are in on poisoning him. Another masterpiece episode.

Nope, I haven't. I'm currently on Jenna who goes looking for a dancing job and ends up at a strip bar. Alla Korot's hair is a subject of endless fascination to me.

Meanwhile, Marley and that thumping bore Jamie are on the point of breaking up. Iris has taken some young DA to the dressing up store where Carl is hiding, so that they can choose some costumes for Halowe'en. It is actually pretty hilarious.

And maybe it is because I am unfamiliar with Cali Timmins work, but Judi Evans's Paulina and Jake are courting all that sexual tension, and I. Am. LOVING. IT! Perhaps one of you could recommend an episode where Cali Timmins' talents shine through? I'd like to be able to judge. From the bits and pieces that I have seen, she looked a little stiff and hair-modelish, and almost completely interchangeable lookswise with Sandra Ferguson and Jensen Buchanan. But I'm ready to eat my words!

Judi Evans, OTOH, I love because she makes Paulina so grounded and warm, yet she has this deep, throaty voice which hints at something sexy. And I like how she plays off Tom Eplin. then again, maybe I need to check out Timmons and Eplin together.

Heche-Buchanan and Rambo-Pinter, OTOH? They really stick out as recasts that I just cannot warm to.

Juniorz, the reason I am watching AMC right now is because of Swajeski. I am really impressed with her AW work. In fact, I am watching AW fanatically these past few weeks. I am addicted. I am only sad that I didn't get into it the first time around.

There is a horrendously unflattering photo of Alla Korot in that outfit, being carried by RPG. Just awful.

I've seen that photo. Alla Korot is in no way shape or form a large girl, but all I remember about that shot was RPG's feather earring and AK's spreadeagled thighs. Eeek.

I know Sam was with Amanda but how odd to include him in some takedown of Carl. Perhaps RKK's Sam, but what were the later, wimpy versions of Sam going to do? Cry on him?

Tickle him to death with his paintbrushes?

Somebody pointed out in that episode that Carl was squeamish at the sight of blood. I'm thinking Sam will throw some red paint over him and stand there playing with his perm while Carl has a nervous breakdown.

OMG! I LOVED the Ladykiller episode! I remember being on the edge of my seat the whole time, right up until Frankie figures out how Carl is going to off Kathleen & runs & grabs her off that box, jumping away from the explosion. Pure awesomeness!

Have you gotten to the episode where the men of town have a board room-like meeting about doing away with Carl & Kathleen shows up & insists on being a part of it? (If so, can you tell me around when it happened? LOL) I just LOVED Kathleen in that episode, reminded me of my beloved Eden Capwell Castillo, who I had just lost a couple months before......well, really 5 or 6 months, since she never got to be Eden after plunging off that cliff into the water.

OMG. Juniorz, that is spooky. I just finished watching that episode yesterday night. Here it is (it won't let me embed):

Another World (10/23/1991)

Kathleen was the BOMB. She essentially said what I thought -- here are the manly men thumping their chests and tryin' to protect their wimminfolk. She felt she had every right to be there. I went into this epi with some trepidation, thinking it would be some GH-style "we gotta take the law in our own hands" macho mess. Instead, it turned out to be a meditation about what happens when people cross the line and think they are above the law.

Here is the LAYDEH! LAYDEH KILLAH! shoot where Frankie jumps on Kathleen as Carl's bomb goes off. Again, more cheesey video tomfoolery with convent girl Jenna donning some fishnets and what looks like a black leather g-string bathing suit.

LOL, OMG, RPG punching his fist through a glass door.

Another World (09/24/91)

I still haven't figured out what the heck investigative journalist Kathleen was doing in the video playing a femme fatale. Oh well.

Holy [!@#$%^&*]. 1991 Tom Eplin. Is insanely HOT. I think I'm developing a bit of a crush!

I never saw that scene between Ryan and Viki under the train, truly one of the most romantic between the couple. This is actually one of my favorite scenes of the couple, I find Jamie and Marley's reactions hilarious lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRDA6HryN4I&feature=related

Spooky. I was going to post that one, too, alongside the train trestle one, but didn't want to make my post too long.

I love that dance scene. Back when soaps used name artists and songs! I still love that Mariah Carey classic and that Gloria Estefan song. OK, the dancing is cheesy but it was 1990.

The best bit for me is actually after the dance, when Ryan tells Vicky a few home truths. When she tries to hit him and he grabs her arm, he sort of holds it so that her fist is softly brushing against his face. Even though she tells him "You really hurt me" and her fist is close enough to hit him again, she can't bring herself to do it. That whole moment embodied his gentle strength. I think they may now be my favorite ever pairing in soaps.

And no, they don't write men like Ryan Harrison on soaps anymore. That and no strong women, I believe, signals the deathknell of the genre. Who wants to watch weaklings and bullies on the frontburner every day?

Yes, Allison Hossack looked a lot like Anne Heche. For a long time I thought that was AH in the pool scene in the opening credits.

OMG, I thought that was Anne Heche and they just couldn't be bothered to update the credits!

I'm in mid-June now, and they had a scene where Matt comforted Paulina after her breakup with Grant. They had a lot of chemistry. I wonder if the show was ever thinking of pairing them up.

Am I right in thinking that Brian Krause (of Charmed fame) was later recast as Matt? Because he was kinda hot on Charmed. This Matt? Looks like a little kid trying to be a Big Record Producer.

For some reason the more I see of Dean the more he gets on my nerves. I liked him at first, but not so much since I've started trying to finish up more episodes. I especially did not love the "Song for Jenna", as Jenna tries to look pleased (she kind of looks embarrassed instead).

This is my reaction to any character Ricky Paull Goldin plays generally. The irony is that Dean is less annoying IMO than Gus on GL or Jake on AMC. And that's with that awful mullet. RPG is more sensual as Dean (and slightly more -- how can I put this? -- metrosexual) than he was/is as Gus or Jake. Yes, that "I Dream of Jenna" song is horrific. But WAIT until you get to September 1991 because they film a video for his song "Ladykiller" and it is the funniest thing ever shot. It is so bad, it's good. PLEASE watch it before AW is taken off YouTube -- you will not regret it. Also, RPG and AK's chemistry is off the charts. They do kiss on the grass at night in early October and, I'm not even kidding, it was so tender and hot that I was fanning myself. And, like I said, I am not an RPG fan.

Yeah, PMV and Heche had such incredible chemistry. That scene where she unbuttoned his shirt and undid his tie and then abruptly left the room, to get him back for his helping Frankie instead of being with her -- yowza.

One of the hottest, most romantic scenes EVER:

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Frankie/Cass are just too manufactured for me. It's always telling and not showing. They are believable friends but I don't believe all the stuff about how she makes him a good man and they are soulmates. I think all that is forced. Cass/Kathleen have a much more natural connection. Frankie is better with her family and with Ryan.

PREACH IT. I never wanted to badmouth the character of Frankie because I know she was killed off in such a cruel, cynical way and it really signaled the deathknell for what had been one of the best soaps on the dial. However! I can't stand her forced quirkiness, her "jokes" (which really are not that funny), her "Mama Earth" shtick. Kathleen took a while to grow on me with the whole "I'm fiery and Oirish" thing but she is such a warmer and more relatable character than Frankie, who I always found brittle and a bit boring. And I just can't see Frankie being this perfect match of Cass's who was an urbane, witty, slightly-Euro-trash lawyer.

LOL, Ted King was known as TW! LOved him on GH as Lorenzo. Never saw him on Loving or The City.

ABC needs to upload all episodes on YouTube!

Some fantastic performances from Anne Heche throughout this episode (and a "Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" sex scene with Kathleen/Cass).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_y3QWvK7g4&feature=channel

Saw this episode a few months ago -- it was the BOMB, especially that Vicky-Jake confrontation. That rape SL was such a turning point for the show. What made it difficult, though, was the fact that AH as Marley and TE as Jake had so much chemistry. I think only PMV surpassed TE in terms of chemistry with Heche. She really was my favourite Vicky/Marley, by a country mile.

And, yes, you were seeing what you thought you saw. Soaps used to be a lot more adult in terms of love scenes. I mean adult not just in terms of sexual content but in terms of showing a love scene that wasn't saccharine or fairy-tale. The way Kathleen and Cass interact with each other afterwards is so intimate and real. Soaps just do not show that physical and emotional closeness anymore.

Carmen Duncan. I never saw Beverlee McKinsey as Iris so CD is essentially my fave Iris.

I'm still not sold on Cali Timmons as Paulina. I find her to be a bit of a hair model and relatively interchangeable from the other blondes on the show (especially Sandra Ferguson).

Anybody else think that the actress who played Olivia Matthews looked a lot like Anne Heche?

I love what carmen Duncan said about Dack rambo. Mark Pinter has just started playing Grant (where I am on AW) and I just cannot warm to him. DR always played Grant as having a heart underneath all that political ambition.

Yeah, Mark. He was a little hottie. And I liked he and Gabi's burgeoning relationship.

Cat, what did you think about Paula and Elaine as characters, and the actresses that played them, and their departure before Christimas '97?

I was sorry to see them go. I liked Paula and Laura Harring a lot -- she played one of those decent characters who tries to do the right thing. I liked how Gabi was jealous of her and how she still tried to form a sisterly relationship with her. I also liked Elaine because she was such a big part of the "history" of Sunset Beach -- her love affair with AJ and the fact that Annie's father stole their baby and told Elaine it had died. I wish SuBe had hired Gordon Thomson earlier so we could have gotten to see all that Elaine-AJ history play out again, and how jealous Olivia was of them.

I don't know why they left so abruptly but I'm thinking that behind-the-scenes changes in the HWing team prompted it. Guza left and was replaced by his wife, Meg Bennett, who was later replaced as well. I got a sense after the first year that they re-evaluated the show and decided to reorient it a little and dump a couple of characters along the way. Like, they also got rid of Nick and I really liked him! And Rae and Wei Lee and I liked them too (although I know I'm alone in that feeling).

Ben and Maria?! Cheap, say it ain't so!

JMO, I know, but I thought Christina Chambers made the drippiest Maria.

I loved Ben and Meg as a kid. Any couple that was good and decent was the one that I was rooting for.

Nowadays it's more team Annie.

I don't hate Meg and Ben as much as some people do, they're fine by me.

Oh, I liked Ben & Meg -- and I liked Annie. I actually thought Ben & Annie had a lot of chemistry and that's why it was a good triagle at the beginning! But it became clear that Ben & Meg were the star-crossed endgame and that's cool, too, as Robertson and Ward had a nice working relationship. Ben & Meg were always going to be where it was at!

They don't do TV credits like that no more! I love it. Dynasty always had the best. LOL at that champagne cork popping on Gordon Thomson's credit. And I don't even mind the Special Guest Star and Special Appearances By. My Stephanie Beacham looks divine tossing that fur coat across the room. Honestly, she, Barbara Stanwyck and Ricardo Montalban was the only good part of The Colbys. Beacham and Montalban popped. I am LOL right now just thinking how awful Maxwell Caulfield was.

True story: Catherine Oxenberg's cousin went to my grade school (this was just after CO had left Dynasty), and one day Catherine came to school to pick her up. Dynasty was HUGE among us kids (I even got the commemorative book for my birthday!) and there was a mini-riot as hundreds of 9, 10 and 11-year olds stampeded the locker room and swarmed around her. I think one of the teachers had to fight us off and bundle her back into her car.

I feel like I'm watching SuBe all over again, over your shoulder!

I do agree very much about the acting abilities of Priscilla Garita, Sam Behrens and Sarah Buxton. They're the best. I'm equally enjoying several others at the moment, including Lesley-Anne Down, Dominique Jennings and Kathleen Noone. Meanwhile, I'm kind of annoyed with Caitlin at the moment.

Oh, LAD, DJ and KN were awesome. Kathleen Noone is like the Carolyn Hennessy of SuBe. She played one of my favorite characters. Dominique was a STAR and I wish I knew what she was doing at the moment so I could keep tabs on what she is up to. Virginia was ultimately too constrained a role for her. She could definitely glam it up in a role if she was allowed to.

Sure, Vanessa Dorman was the first Caitlin and all, but from what I've seen Kam Heskin was decent as well.

True confession: I much prefer Heskin's Caitlin to Dorman's.

I can't really grade the acting abilities of Eddie Cibrian, Jason Winston George, Timothy Adams and Hank Cheyne because they're all playing clueless males.

True, that. Adams surprised me sometimes with how much better he could be when given the material. Jason Winston George has gone onto better things and that's good because Michael was pretty much a one-note character. Hank Cheyne was never that great. Ever. Cibrian gets a free pass because he was insanely hot.

I also think it was a colossal mistake to get rid of Leeza and let Paramount move it to syndication. Later Today bombed and Leeza was as much a part of NBC Daytime as Days was. Leeza was a way to pimp NBC soaps, especially DAYS. Knowing how closely tied both audiences were to each other, especially during the height of Passions(The Ethan/Theresa wedding drew in record numbers in terms of their own success, IIRC), using Leeza as a vehicle to promote both shows wouldn't have hurt. Today/NBC's news division would never promote the daytime lineup the way Leeza did. They should have given her, at least, a few additional seasons.

Bellcurve and his Leeza love. Actually, I loved Leeza, too. Just to underscore what Tomlin said about groups watching soaps, our dorm left the NBC affiliate station on from 11am (when Leeza aired) right through until Oprah-time (4pm) on the ABC affiliate. The NBC soaps were huge in the dorms. And Leeza was a great vehicle for Days. I remember she used to have Patrika Darbo after she lost her Days stint coming on as a talking head.

I think SuBe *did* know that they would soon get the chop -- which is why its last year had a Long Goodbye feel to it. Which I wouldn't want any other way because SuBe managed to end on a very SuBe-like high. I did think Gregory returning as Uncle Whatshisname was a mistake -- it was drawn-out and tedious. Although the irony was that Gregory was nicer and more lovable as this uncle than he was as Gregory! the final scene between Olivia and Gregory in jail was one I still have imprinted on my brain, it was so good. Sam Behrens never got the kudos he should have for playing Gregory Richards, but he was phenomenal at it.

Best SL of that last year was Ricardo stroking out when he finally saw that tape of Gabi and Antonio makin' sweet luv in the rubble of the church after the earthquake. He was in a wheelchair plotting revenge on G&A and that was by far the most interesting Thickardo has ever been on the show. Antonio continued to look hot and Priscilla Garita stole the show with her decision to eventually leave town rather than continue to hurt Ricardo and Antonio.

I also think that the show would have invested a little more in Casey and Meg if they hadn't known that the axe was falling. As it was, they had to drop that and make sure Meg and Ben found their way back to each other relatively quickly.

Sarah Buxton continued playing Annie like her life depended on it. More than anybody else, she really was the star of that show. I'm bummed Sean Kanen didn't have enough time to establish himself, though.

Exactly! I never understood why people always shat on Donna just because the Great Michael Hudson deigned not to be with her.

As for Kale, is/was he JFP's personal chewtoy or just an ordinary FOJ like John Bolger and Robin Christopher? Speaking of RC, was she any good as Lorna? I have to say, I love the long, lithe Sofia Coppola.

I hope that Kale Browne gets down on his knees daily and thanks the good lord that Anna Stuart swept his professional life. It is because of her wonderful interpretation of Donna Love that Michael Hudson was such a fixture on AW, on and off, for 20 odd years.

And I know he was her first love and and she was all flighty and spoiled etc., but he was such a judgmental, trifling, pompous ass. He really jerked her around -- especially when she started moving on and falling for other men!

I'll be honest. I really did not enjoy that whole Taylor SL. At the risk of getting spat on by hard-core AW fans, I find Sharlene & John to be a total snore. Even with the hint of multiple personalities. I do like John when he's in Doctor Mode at the hospital, and the only part of this particular SL I enjoyed was Carmen Duncan as Iris presiding over the mediation between John and Taylor. But every time John and Sharlene share screentime, it's like all the oxygen has been sucked out of the room -- in stark contrast with the many other chemistry-rich characters and pairings on the show.

Taylor was a fun, unstable psycho though (is there any other kind?).

Oh, and forgot to add: Judi Evans blows me AWAY as Paulina. I liked her on Days but she was crying an awful lot and the role was typical ingénue. Here, her face radiates such love and beauty when she contemplates Grant... and her low voice suggests intelligence and warmth. She is a "complete" multi-dimensinal character. It also helps that she has chemistry with absolutely everybody. The scenes when Jamie took her to a classical music concert and she fell in love with the music were remarkable for everything she expressed without saying a word. I can see this Paulina-Jake thing is going somewhere special. The only regret is that Dack Rambo's Grant was replaced by Mark Pinter. Rambo had more charisma and I totally bought his love for Paulina.

"LAY-DEHHHHH. Lay-deh KILLAHHHHHH." God, that song. That music video! That awful mullet.

Carl, I love that episode you posted for exactly the reasons you stated. These strong, relatable yet glamourous women. AW was so great at drawing out friendships as well as romantic relationships that scenes like that never come across as filler, they merely lay the groundwork for possible future storylines/friendships/rivalries.

I've been watching about 2 episodes a day. I would normally watch one but early 90s AW is like plunging into a compelling book where you just want to sneak in one chapter more. Some might argue that this kind of soap would never work today because people just do not have the attention span for it. Take it from me who wields her remote control like a weapon -- my FF button is my friend. I am constantly FF the soaps I currently watch, but I have rarely felt the need to with AW currently. You might argue that it is nostalgia-love which is stopping me from doing so, but I believe that 1991 AW is well-paced and structured. There is always something in the final few scenes that makes me want to tune into the next show.

WHAT?! No! Why would they want to do that? I am loving discovering AW for the first time. All those supercouples I only ever heard by name!